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Now I’m ready to start carving

I spent the last two weeks on the road, teaching at Lost Art Press then visiting friends in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Tennessee. And doing some research in Pennsylvania and Delaware. And now I’m home, sorting photos. I wrote about the trip on my substack blog – you can read it there, open to all. https://peterfollansbeejoinerswork.substack.com/p/it-was-long-but-it-wasnt-strange

So this one is about the birds I saw at Drew & Louise Langsner’s – first two are cedar waxwings feeding on the mulberry tree.

cedar waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)

cedar waxwing w mulberry

One of the most visible birds there was male indigo bunting (Passerina cyanea). I didn’t see the female. This might be the first time I’ve ever photographed them…he kept in the shady places, hard to get enough light on him.

indigo bunting

I brightened this one up after the fact. Not something I’m good at, just used the auto-function.

indigo bunting

The hummingbirds were everywhere, zipping right past my ear many times.

ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris)

A bird I’ve only seen a few times before is the hooded warbler (Setophaga citrina) – got a slightly-out-of-focus shot of the male:

hooded warbler, male

The female was around too – they both kept to the shade.

hooded warbler, female

The next one, in the mulberry tree with the waxwings – is a tricky one. The scarlet tanager (Piranga olivacea) a female. I saw a male, way up high.

scarlet tanager, female

It’s funny that the English name has the color of the male, while the scientific name has the color of the female. AND – turns out they aren’t even tanagers, they belong to the cardinal family. Learn something new every day…I’ll substitute a scarlet tanager male from last spring, just because I’ll never get a better picture of one of them anyway. I almost bumped into this guy last year. Now you see where they get the name.

scarlet tanager, male

and here’s the female one more time, better light on her as she wolfed some mulberries.

scarlet tanager female

There were lots more birds there, just not lots more good-enough photos. Black-throated green warbler (Setophaga virens) and black-throated blue warbler (Setophaga caerulescens). An ovenbird. Eastern towhees. Here’s a slightly soft shot of a yellow-throated warbler (Setophaga dominica)- a bird I had only seen once before.

yellow throated warbler

There were blue-gray gnatcatchers, northern parula and some I’ve forgotten. I’ll tack on one lousy photo, only because I’m 98% sure it’s a prothonotary warbler – a bird I had never seen. But I could be wrong. It’s different from the female hooded warbler, which is the only other thing I think it could be.

maybe a prothonotary warbler

July is often not the best month for birding, but around Louise’s garden, the birds don’t know that. I was barely outside the limits of this photo to see all these birds. Amazing fun.

Louise’s garden

Wedged mortise and tenon joints are quite common, but wedged dovetails are somewhat rare. Now it is said that the wedged dovetail was historically used to fill dovetails containing gaps. It could also be that this was at some time an actual means of securing dovetails in climates where perhaps the use of glues such as hide glue was less than optimal (due to moisture, cold). Classically many of these wedged dovetails exist as a single wedge through the middle of the pin.

But more complex designs do exist. A few years ago, whilst visiting a museum in Bergen, Norway, I came across a wooden chest with a more compound wedged dovetail design (as I remember, it was the The University Museum).

A Norwegian chest with wedged dovetails

The walls of this chest are 25-30mm in thickness. The pins of the dovetail joints are interesting because of the compound nature of the wedges. The example shown in the picture below shows a pin with three wedges parallel to the sloped edges of the pin (shown in blue), and two vertical wedges (shown in pink) – with the vertical wedges added last. Now I didn’t take any details of this chest, so I don’t exactly know the time period. It is possible that the different orientations were put in at different times, perhaps to counter shrinkage in the wood.

A compound wedged dovetail from the front-right side of the chest

 Not 100% sure that what I am doing is a restoration. When I am done working on it I'm sure it won't be what my wife originally found. One thing I noticed in the work I've done so far is that there isn't any plywood anywhere on it. Everything is solid wood of which I think is 5-6 different species. I'm sticking with calling it a restoration because I will be restoring it to be used either as end tables or bedside night stands. I asked my wife again today which it was going to be and she is waiting until I'm done before making that call.

this is going to be a PITA

I criss crossed from opposite corners and my pencil lines didn't cross where the hole is. 

it is off 90

The pencil lines on the front cross dead on the hole. It looks like the hole was drilled off 90. Not sure yet how I'll deal with it. I'm leaning in the direction of doing the drawer fronts like I did with Leo's bureau.

banding stock

I sawed scraps of pine to the width of the drawer box stock. Next step was to bandsaw strips on the bandsaw.

rough

I thought of gluing the smooth side down to the edge and then planing it smooth after the glue had set. After thinking about that I changed my mind and decided it was better to plane it smooth first before gluing it to the drawer box edges.

hmmm.....

Noticed that I had 3 of these planing jigs and I picked this one to use. I had to add another scrap of pine to it because the depth was a 1/4" and the strips were less than an 1/8" off the bandsaw.

thick enough

The banding came out 3-4 frog hairs below 1/8". That is more than thick enough for the purpose I will use them for. On the top of the drawers it shouldn't be subjected to any abuse intended or not.

made two extras

I made a enough banding to do 8 drawers where I only need 6.

drats, and double, triple drats

I decided to make a few more based on losing more folded up ones than good ones. The final ratio ended up being almost 3 folded to 1 good. The plane would dig in at the lead in stroke and the strip and fold up. I didn't have time to even form 'aw shi....' in the brain bucket before it was toast.

I made more

After I had made the required bandings for the 8 drawers I went nutso and made a a few more. If I counted the broken ones it would have been a boatload. I should have done this after gluing and nailing the drawer boxes together. However, I started down this road and after breaking so many I got pissed and kept at until I had more than I could possibly need.

left top done

I thought that the top was walnut but after gluing the left top back together I'm not so sure. I think that one board of the glue up is mahogany and the other one is walnut based on the grain and pores. From what I have observed I don't think that this is a stained piece. I used a card scraper to clean up the underneath of the knobs and it looked clean and raw wood. The finish was yellowed and the wood shavings from underneath didn't have any 'stain' in them. 

first drawer box

This is the drawer box that was a PITA to dry fit - I had to use clamps to do that. I had to use the clamps to glue and nail it too. I clamped and then glued/nailed around the top 360. Moved the clamps from the top to the bottom and repeated the same.

it's throwing a hissy fit

This was the only drawer that I didn't get to fit its intended opening dry. It is supposed to go in the bottom but it wouldn't fit. It was too tight but that was caused by a nail that blew through and was sticking out on a corner. Removed the nail and the drawer went in but not fully. It was hanging up on the back left leg stile.

nail blow through

Had quite a few of the blow throughs to deal with. Only one drawer survived intact without any. 

rounded the corner

The drawer guide was slightly over to the inside of the leg stile - it wasn't flush with it. Not much but enough so that the drawer back bottom left edge was hitting as it was pushed in. Sanding a round over was the charm for fixing it.

right side unit

Other than the one hiccup with the bottom drawer, the other two were trouble free. Now all 3 slide in/out smoothly with no binding or jamming in the opening.

past lunch

I wanted to get all the drawers glued, nailed, and fitted to their respective openings before I quit to fill the pie hole. The left unit had the same left leg stile hiccup that I had with the right one. I sanded the corner like I did with the bottom right one and all was well in Disneyland again. 

I tried to swap the middle and bottom drawers but both of them didn't like the bottom drawer opening. Both hung up and wouldn't slide all the way into the drawer opening.

round over

It didn't take much to allow for the drawer to fully insert into the opening. I'm glad that this simple fix cured the headache. I wasn't looking forward to shimming or trying some other remedy for fixing the leg stiles and drawer guides being misaligned.

just MHO

I think the banding looks better than the exposed edge of the plywood. I have never liked the look of it and for as long as I can remember I have always covered it if it was going to be visible. The banding is butted together at the four corners

more OT

This AM I thought I would get the drawers done and have the drawer fronts attached. I got the drawers done and banded and that was it.

There isn't a lot left to do on these now. Attach the drawer fronts, make some back stop things and cover the big holes at the bottom back of both units. I will not be painting or doing any finishing work on these. I liked doing the woodworking part and my wife can finish them however she deems fit.

stayed a wee bit longer

I filled in all the nail holes and blow outs with wood putty. I don't intend to finish the drawers with shellac or anything else. I didn't want to leave the nails exposed when the drawers are opened. I'll sand them tomorrow.

accidental woodworker

Before I start one of the two new projects I am going to whack out the night/end tables before I do either them. I don't know what this was before (vanity?) but my wife intends to use them as night/end tables. She hasn't decided if they will go in the living/rec room or on either side of her bed at Amanda's. That is her problem to solve and mine is make new drawers for these.

moving time

Before I started on the honey-do I had to get Leo's bureau out of the shop and into the boneyard. I asked my wife and she said she got the dollies from Amazon. I tried to use all four but ended up moving the bureau with only two. Due to the unevenness of the cellar floor one or two of the dollies would fall off. I didn't have any hiccups maneuvering the bureau into the boneyard with just two of them.

first drawer

The sides and bottom are 3/16" thick solid wood. Species unknown but maybe a pine? The front and back are a 1/2" thick. These drawers are incredibly flimsy both in looks and I'm sure in their use too. I tried to take the drawers apart gently so I can repurpose the thin wood for something else.

some glue residue

The first two sides came off relatively easy. There is evidence of glue but the long grain to end grain glue bond wasn't that solid. I also attempted to save the nails.

hmm....

It was interesting trying to decipher how this was done. The front is screwed to the drawer front with 4 screws in the corners and one center one that captures the knob. I think the box was glued/nailed together and then screwed to the drawer front.

brittle and dry

The sides and the bottom are dry and prone to splitting just by looking at them. The glue bond was a lot stronger on this drawer and the mallet was 'riving' them with each blow. Of the six drawers I only lost one.

success

The first two drawer bottoms didn't come out in one piece. Both of them were two board bottoms and 2 of the 4 split and disintegrated taking them apart.

blast from the past

I haven't seen these types of fasteners for years. The last time I used them was making screen doors a bazillion years ago. Four of the six drawer fronts were made this way. Whoever made this used every bit of any scraps he/she had available.

done

This is the pile I got from taking the drawers apart. I got a nice pile of thin solid stock but I won't be able to use any of it for the new drawer builds. I could glue it to get the width I need but I would be short on the length. Try as I might this stuff wasn't stretching even a frog hair.

it is walnut

This is the top from what I'm calling the left hand unit. There was a good 1/8" of gap between the two pieces. I didn't see much evidence of glue from end to end on either board. I planed the edges square, flat, and straight and glued it back together. The right top is in good shape with tight glue joints. The sides of both units are frame and panels and I didn't see any problems with them.

why it failed

The top is/was screwed to the frame without any allowance for expansion/contraction. I will elongate the front holes to allow for it when I screw the top back on.

a little of this and a little of that

There are all kinds of different woods in use here. The maker obviously didn't devote any calories to doing anything fancy on anything that wouldn't be seen with the drawers shut. What he/she did is solid with nothing loose or rattling around. I'll have to use plywood to fill in the big hole (both units). That is from me removing a board that held the two units apart R/L.

top is cooking

This should be done by tomorrow. The top is short on the F/B but I will be putting a back stop thing to make up the 5/8" I need.

used plywood

I got a mix of different 1/2" plywoods. I used cherry, blonde wood, and some Home Depot Plywood I bought on sunday. I sized the fronts to fit their individual openings - they were all about a 32nd +/- of each other. I made the length of the sides the same for all 6 drawers. I ran a groove on all the inside edges for the plywood bottoms to come.

I am using rabbeted construction for the drawers. I sawed a 1/2x 3/16 rabbet on the fronts and backs. Glue and nails will be more than sufficient to hold them together.

I think I have enough

All the of bottoms are slightly different. I sawed six out to the largest one and I then fitted each bottom to fit each drawer.

dry fitted

Took a wee bit of fiddle and faddle but I got them fitted and sliding in/out. I sized the fronts/backs to be a wee bit under sized from the opening R/L.

throwing a hissy fit

When I was plowing the groove for the bottom I made it a few frog hairs too wide. I adjusted for the groove by bumping the fence in the wrong direction. That looseness made dry fitting this drawer a ROYAL PITA. Only two grooves were loose but it was enough to up the urge to give it flying lessons.

one more to go

I was pretty feeling a little smug with myself. The drawers, with the exception of the first big one, fit in their respective openings. So far (except for the one), the drawers all open/shut without any binding. I don't anticipate any hiccups or changes after I glue and nail them.

last one

I thought I would have gotten more done today. Still a productive day getting all of the drawers redone and dry fitted. Tomorrow I'll fire up the compressor and glue and nail them together.

banding

I don't like the look of the plywood end grain. I will saw up scraps to get what I need so I can cover the top edges of all of the drawers. I have a strong 1/8" of clearance on all of the drawers (T/B) for it.

picked it up this AM

I thought of putting my name or made by grandpa but nixed it. This is for him and this is all he needs to know.

The temp today topped out at 91F (33C) which was 5-6 degrees higher than the predicted temp. This makes 4 days in a row with it reaching 90 or higher. Any bets for 5 in a row?

accidental woodworker

 Today, according to the weather prognosticators, was when the high temps would break. Well boys and girls, that didn't happen. The predicted temp was supposed to be in the middle 80's and instead it topped out at 94F (34C). I think the high temps are here to stay for a while. 

found it

I had given up on finding this in the workshop. I happened to see it in an upstairs bookcase. Walmart sells these but Amazon has them too. I can't remember what the 'cardboard' is underneath it. I think it is card stock and I probably got it from Amazon.

done

I am going to apply adhere adhesive backed velvet to them. So much easier to do it to them vice the bottom of the compartments.

oversized

I made the velvet about a 1/4" wider than the card stock T/B and R/L.

gap

I am leaving this side as is. It will be impossible to see it when standing in the front of the bureau.

did better with #2

I put these in mostly to cover the plywood bottoms and the two screws. Maybe Leo has some flashy cars that will look good laying on it.

branded

I went to a trophy shop this AM to have a brass plate made with Leo's name on it. No trophy shops in my area do pantograph engraving anymore. He told me that was old school and today it is all done with laser etching. So that is what I'll be picking up tomorrow morning. I don't think I did this for Miles's bureau so I'll have to probably make one for him too.

hmmm......

The next project on the workbench was going to be the one on the right. I like the form and style of it but I will be adding my own 'design' improvements. I saw the clock on the left last night and I like the form of it too. I ordered some black limba wood from Ocooch Hardwoods for making my version of it. I especially like the black void that the pendulum bob swings in. 

One idea I have for the right hand project is to use tiles for the panel inserts. I found some online but I didn't bookmark the site so I'll search for it again tonight. Along with the tile inserts I plan on changing the size of the rails and stiles of both doors. 

I haven't forgotten the end tables I have to fix for my wife. I'll be squeezing them in somehow and I might work on them along with either one or both of these. I've been kicking around the idea of using the left over 1/2" plywood to make the drawer sides. That would save my back on not having to run stock through the lunchbox planer.

finally

 This is the zone free DVD player I bought a month ago(?). I initially tried it a few days after I received it and it didn't work. It looked like it was working but there was no visual output on the TV. I fiddled and faddled with it and gave up on it. The DVD player is from China and I thought it had go south on me.

Today I checked all the cables and found the problem. The cable going into the DVD wasn't fully seated. I barely pushed it in a 16th but that was what was holding things up. Now I can finally finish watching season 4 of Spiral.

accidental woodworker

I’ve recently taken on a new project—something I’ve never tackled before. It’s been on my bucket list for ages: building antique Arabian/Ottoman and 18th-century European and American furniture. I’m particularly drawn to the American Federal style for its creativity, kinda like how the Romans used to mix and match ideas. I’ve already started on some pieces, but this one’s a whole new challenge. Handcrafting these beauties is incredibly time-consuming, but I’m loving every minute of it. Check out my video to see how it’s coming along. By the way, working out of my tool chest feels like something I should’ve done ages ago!

yebreed:

Old Chinese houses are an inexhaustible creative space in terms of wooden interiors. To me, something alike is associated with childhood memories of a countryside house in Zhejiang.

Photo: ©遗产君

 I didn't get a lot done today but I am calling the bureau done. I still have a couple of cosmetic touch ups here and there but I putting the check mark in the done column. I didn't get much done because me back is acting up. It usually hurts when I first get but it loosens up and I don't feel it through out the day. Not so for the past few days with today it throwing a hissy fit on and off all day long. That along with the high 90's F (33-35C) temps and humidity I wasn't feeling much like working wood.

8" drawer box

I plugged the original holes for the knobs. I don't have to plug the holes in the drawer front. I got it aligned and installed in the PM session.

huge improvement

There is one spot where I painted over bare wood but the rest of the top is smooth and glass looking. There is/was some wood shop dust and debris nobs and nibs that I sanded off with 320. I think most of it came from walking on the floors above it.

drawer fronts

These looked better than the top. I applied another coat on everything again. That is all I got done in the AM session. Once they were painted I couldn't do anything else in the shop. I spent the time wisely doing sudoku and crossword puzzles.

no nails

In hindsight I should have made the rabbet wider (R/L) so I wouldn't have to angle the screws like I did here. I put one screw in between each of the bearer rails on both sides. I nixed the nails because of the thinness of the rabbet and that a screw will provide better holding/pull out resistance.

PM session

Putting the drawers back in so I can align the bottom 8" drawer again. It must have shifted on me the first time without me noticing it.

left side aligned

When I did this the first time I made all the drawers align on the left. I paid extra attention to this making sure the drawer didn't move either R/L when I drilled the holes for the knobs.

hole drilled

I drilled the left hole first and installed the knob. I checked to ensure that the 8" drawer front was still in line with the three drawers above it. Once I was satisfied with that I drilled and installed the knob on the right.

drawer front screws

I put four of these in each of the two small top drawers (top and bottom corners). I used six in each of the 3 large bottom drawers - two each in top/bottom corners and two in the top/bottom of the middle.

where are the screws?

Wandered around looking in the spots where I thought I might have hidden the screws but nada. The screws were in one of the compartments. I didn't hear or feel  them rattling around when I picked it up

secured

No problems getting them in and screwed down. Even the middle one was easy peasy and I was expecting that one to be a expletive laden chore.

glamour shot #1

I really like how this bureau turned out. It is a good size but I doubt Leo will take to college with him someday. It is too heavy and they have to go up a long staircase to climb to get it to his second floor bedroom.

side view

I am going to leave the drawers slightly open and give the paint some time to fully cure before I close them.

striped back

The stripes are from me cleaning/erasing the pencil lines with alcohol. I am going to put a brass plate on the back (name date etc) along with my branding iron imprint.

car storage

Amanda already told me that Leo will be using these drawers to hold some of his toy cars. I am on the fence with putting blue felt in the tray compartments. That will change if I can find where I hid my mini mat cutting machine.

same side glamour shot

I wanted to snap this pic from the right but there wasn't enough room to do that. I will have to move the tablesaw so I can get the bureau out of the shop and into the boneyard. Lucky me that my wife bought 4 mini tri-wheeled dollies that will make that job a breeze. However, they won't work a damn for going up steps.

accidental woodworker

Last post I had completed the main box.  This time it's on to the upper tray and drawer.  For the tray, I made the depth (front to back) a little more than 1/16" less than the inside dimension of the box.  It's length is about 3" shorter than the inside length of the box.  This was to allow a drill to stand up on the floor of the upper compartment and still be able to put the tray in place.

The 3/8" thick tray components dovetailed

... and test fitted into the box

Made a handle / divider that fits into stopped dadoes in the ends. The handle is 1/2" thick to add a little comfort when picking it up.

Close-up of one end of the handle / divider

One corner of the tray with cleaned up dovetails

Glued up the dovetails first, then later glued on a 1/8" plywood bottom with some creative "clamping"

It fits!

I made the height so it would stick up 1/8" from the box upper edges

Fitting the front into its opening

Fitting the left side and getting its length directly from the box

The parts in relative position

Marking the sides with a triangle

... and the front/back with a triangle. I sometimes use a double triangle so I don't confuse it with a reference edge mark

Dovetails complete

I had another decision to make.  Do I plow grooves for the 1/8" plywood drawer bottom, or do I glue the bottom to the underside of the drawer?  I did a little test groove in some scrap to help with this.

1/8" groove with some scrap plywood fit in place

First, my 1/8" plow iron is a bit wider than 1/8", and the plywood is a little less than 1/8", so the fit was sloppy.  Second, if I inset the groove 3/16" or 1/4" from the bottom edges, I would lose 5/16" or 3/8" of useable space in the drawer.  So I decided to glue the plywood to the bottom of the drawer.  But since I sized the drawer components precisely, I had to remove the thickness of the plywood from the drawer parts.  On the drawer front I used a rabbet so that the plywood would not be seen with the drawer closed.

Here, I've glued the dovetails together and also glued the bottom  to the drawer, using the metal toolbox as a clamp again

Then I cut out a bit of the front to form a finger pull

And lastly I could do the final fitting all the way inserted (before the finger pull I had no way of pulling the drawer back out!)

Added a couple coats of shellac

And here it is partially loaded, ready for work

This was a really fun build.  It's solid as a rock, but a bit heavier than I might have liked.  But that's OK.  It's built for a purpose and I think it'll serve that purpose well.

Here’s the next video update of the two mandolins that I’m currently working on. It was never my intention to build the two in parallel, that’s just a quirk of the timing! Sooner or later, they shall have to diverge!

However, I guess the video is already out-of-date………

 After I killed the lights I knew that I was a lot closer to being done today than yesterday. What is going to hold up the check mark in the done column is painting. That is what I got done today. I did that in the PM session so I wouldn't stir up dust in the shop if I had done it in the AM session. I'm very anxious to see how all the after the fact sanding and card scraper work paid off. 

setting the drawer unit

Before I painted the top I positioned the drawer unit where it will live on it. I marked the screws and I did all 3. I don't think I'll have any hiccups being able to screw down the middle drawer opening screw.

done

I laid out and drilled the holes for the drawer front screws. I made the hole a 1/8" more than the diameter of the screw shaft.

setting the drawer fronts

I decided it was best to do the drawer fronts now rather than after they are painted. Any dings or scratches done now will be painted over after.

oops

Me thinks I had made a me-steak again. I know I said I would leave the dust panels off until I got the drawer fronts on. But..... I have no way to gain access to the inside of the drawer front so I can drill and fasten the screws.

got lucky

I already drilled the holes for the knobs and I used that hole to screw the drawer front to the drawer box. If I hadn't tripped over this lucky bit I was going to try using a hot glue gun.

huh?????

The screws don't seem to be long enough for the next drawer front (7" one). Both the 1 1/4" and the 1 1/2" screws were too short as was a 2" brass screw I tried.

Yikes!

I have done a lot of bone headed things in the shop but I think this one is now at the head of the line. The screws weren't too short, I hadn't put the drawer box in yet.

wow

I was so happy with how this looked that I almost wet myself. All the margins are perfect dare I say that. I also kind of like this distressed look of the bureau.

it is stable

for the knobs

I got the last package of 2" long 8-32 screws at ACE. The pliers nipped about a 1/4" off and the die chased and cleaned up the threads. Decided to keep going forward and got all the knobs installed too.

another worry dashed

I didn't have a warm and fuzzy about the size of the knobs but now I do. They are going to work fine. I wish they were a tad bit bigger but this is all LV had. Even the two top drawer knobs don't look off to my eye. They are 6 1/8" in from the outside edges and 7" in from the inside edges. 

This bureau is the heaviest piece of anything I ever made. I think only my workbench weighs more than this does. On the bright side it is solid, feels substantial, and should withstand anything a young Leo can throw at it.

the PM paint session

I wiped  down all the parts I was going to paint with a damp rag.

something is amiss

I'm pretty sure that I paid attention to my labels. However, when I was getting ready to remove the knobs and the drawer fronts I noticed a hiccup. The bottom drawer wasn't aligned with the other ones. It was about an 1/8" off to the left. It was enough that I saw it immediately and it is something I'll have to correct.

feeling much better

It had been about an hour after I painted the top when I eyeballed it. It is smooth with no brush marks and no ridges showing. There are a few spots where the paint is over bare wood and they don't look glassy smooth but that is to be expected. I didn't prime the top again and this will take at least two topcoats to finish. Based on the first coat look the 2nd one should come out looking 100% glassy smooth also.

one more coat of shellac

I got four coats on the entire drawer box. I wanted to get one more (possibly two) on the interiors. The insides had a bazillion teeny ridges left by nicks in the planer blades I scraped, steel wool, and sanded off. They may need another coat to melt the shellac and blend them out.

came today

I got something to read before I check my eyelids for light leaks tonight.

 accidental woodworker

I’m in between projects and my garage is a mess so thought I would pull out pics from this old project. Some pictures are from the original build and some I took just now for clarification.

angled side view

It is a cart for storage organizers. These are the “20 Bin Medium Portable Parts Storage Case” organizers are from harbor freight. In the past they’ve gone on sale for $4-5 each. By the time I got 10 or so of these I decided to make some storage.

If you search online you’ll find lots of people making similar meta-organizers. Even the harbor freight review section has a lot of pictures. I’ve seen some using drawer slides for each compartment, or some made out of metal bread racks. I like this style that doesn’t have a 1/2 or 3/4″ shelf between every organizer, saving space and material.

The main inspiration for mine was from the youtube video “[21-B] DIY Rack for Harbor Freight Plastic Parts Bin Storage” by bremtech. In it he describes the critical measurements and recommends cutting an angle on the leading edge of the rails to make the sliding in less jarring.

This was a real scrap project, made from leftover advantech OSB. The carcase was pocket screwed together.

carcase

The organizers are held up by their edges on thin wooden rails. The rails are made from pine ‘lattice’ from Lowe’s which is 1/4″ thick. They were fastened with glue and short pneumatic nails. I used a spacer in between the rails as I went along gluing and nailing–I didn’t measure and mark each location. The angled cuts at the front of my supports are too extreme. A smaller angled cut or rounded corner would work better.

These angles are 3/4″. I recommend less.

The critical dimensions are 16 9/16″ side-to-side between the walls (not between the rails) and 2 1/2″ up-and-down between the top of one rail and the next. In my project one half was too tight. I cracked the pocket screws loose a little and slathered wax all over the slides which resolved it.

measurements

The drawer is 1x pine with a plywood bottom. It doesn’t work well. Maybe it’s too wide (about 34 inches) or too loose fitting. It also doesn’t help the thing is on wheels. If I had to do it over I would make the bottom cavity to fit some different type containers and not have a drawer.

could have fit something else instead of a drawer

For painting I took a yellow insert to Lowe’s and they made a matching yellow cabinet paint. I usually do one coat of primer and two coats of paint. The hardware is from Lee Valley, here is an example pull. Just search for ‘tansu’ to find the rest. I thought the yellow cabinet with black hardware would match the yellow and black organizers. The casters are from harbor freight.

front view

By the end I regretted using osb, at least for the top. I considered filling all the imperfections with drywall compound before painting. I also thought about painting the silver parts of the casters yellow. In the end I did neither.

The cart has 18 slots for organizers. Harbor freight also sells a taller “8-Bin Large Portable Parts Storage Case”. They are twice the height of the medium organizers, and simply take up two slots.

Now that the veneer I used to build up the bed of the plane has had a chance to dry, we can start fitting the bed of the plane to the blade. My experience has been that this is one of the steps of setting up a Japanese plane that intimidates people. It shouldn’t be. If you have the coordination to fit a mortise and tenon joint, you have the coordination to do this task.

First, I trim the excess wood from gluing the shim in using a flush cut saw and a chisel to trim.

This process involves putting something on the back of the plane blade that will rub off as you tap the blade in. I’ve used a variety of things for this. In the past I’ve used the following:

• a pencil
• a Sharpie marker
• a dry erase marker
• camellia oil
• graphite powder
• holding the blade over a candle, allowing soot to land on the blade

They all work. There are probably other options as well. This time I’m using a pencil.

Tap the blade into the plane. Because of the veneer, it won’t go all the way down.

Then back the blade out. You’ll see dark marks on the bed of the plane. These marks are where the plane blade came into contact with the bed of the plane, and represent the high points of the bed. It will look something like this.

Now that we can see the contact points, remove the wood in those areas with your favorite implement of destruction. Again, there are a variety of tools that can be used:

• a file
• chisels
• plane float
• small scraper

I like using a combination of a milled-tooth file and chisels.

The areas that are fair game include the bed of the plane and the sides of the grooves. The upper surface of the groove should never be touched.

I’ll remove enough wood so that the marks disappear. The bed of the plane now looks like this.

Scribble more pencil on the back of the plane blade, tap it in, and remove it. What should happen is that the marks now cover a wider area of the bed.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Good music helps this task move along. I was listening to an old Hüsker Dü album. The goal is to get the edge of the blade to within 5mm or so of the mouth with just hand pressure.

If you pay attention during each cycle of removing wood and tapping in the blade, you’ll get a sense of how much the position of the blade changes with each cycle, and then you can decide if you need to be more cautious or more aggressive.

And the contact points should be evenly spread across the bed of the plane. This means that the blade is well supported by the bed of the plane, which will hold the blade firmly in place when in use.

I have friends who love to restore old Stanley planes. One of the steps in that process is to take the frog and sandpaper on a flat surface to make sure that the frog is flat. This is for the same purpose — to provide support for the plane blade. But I think this process is far more enjoyable than sanding metal.

At this point, it will be pretty easy to tap the blade with a hammer to bring the edge to the level of the sole of the plane, and you shouldn’t need to tap too hard to do so.

The total process took about 30 minutes.

One last note on fitting the blade — I’ve heard woodworkers fret about ruining the plane at this step. The only way to ruin the plane is to remove so much wood that the blade sits too far down. This is hard to do. And if that happens, you can just glue in another shim and start over.

success

Home Depot didn't have the blonde plywood brand that Lowes sells but they had this which IMO looks just as good. I almost gave up on because this was not with all the other plywood. It was a few aisles over in  a place I would have never thought of to look for it. I was wandering around up and down the aisles to see what they had to offer and came across it.

I had to wait 20 minutes to find someone to saw the full sheet in half for me. This was $49 for the full sheet which isn't too bad of a price in today's market. I sawed one half to fit the bureau and stowed the other half in the boneyard.

this sucks

I still have brush marks/ridges in the top. I was expecting the paint to fill them in and smooth it out but it ain't happening boys and girls. I don't think even multiple coats will fill/smooth this in/out.

primer

Lightly sanded again with 220 and primer popped out again. This is really starting to draw blood and chunks out of my arse.

the back

I am not going nutso on the back like I intend to on the front. All that matters here is about a nice one inch border on the sides and 1 1/2" at the front. The rest can stay as is.

close

dry fitted

The back was slightly out of square - I planed a 32nd taper on the right side with a jack plane. I also had to knock down about 5"-6" on the top right to flush it.

screwed in place

No glue, just screws - 5 in each bearer rail. I still have to nail the back into the sides of the carcass. I'll use my nail gun to do that if I don't forget it tomorrow. The bureau is rock solid now along with being a lot heavier. This thing weighs a ton and a half at least but I'll bet a lung it will never rack. 

top attached

I attached the top to the top bearer rails with 8 screws at the back and 8 screws at the front. The first row of back screws are screwed directly into the underside of the top through the bearer rail. All the other screws I elongated the holes so the top can contract/expand towards the front. I didn't put any screws in the center cleats because I remembered them after I got last screw driven home. 

pay me now or pay me later a lot more

I got no one to blame for this crappy paint job but myself. I got lazy and didn't do what I should have done. First I didn't do a good enough job sanding the top before I put the primer on. Secondly I didn't sand the primer coat and subsequent topcoats like I should have. It is going to take a lot of calories to fix this screw up starting with 120 grit. I will sand the top until it is baby butt smooth no matter where I check it. In other words 100% of the real estate will be smooth after this go around.

90 minutes later

Sandpaper and a card scraper and all is feeling and looking good with the top now. I can't see any ridges/brush marks anywhere and it is baby butt smooth all over. I shouldn't have fallen for the paint filling in the smoothing out the top. 

knob screw

The supplied screw is too short.  FYI - did you know that 99.99% of knob screws are 8-32s? My first thought was to install the knob on the drawer front and then attach the drawer front to the drawer box. After thinking on that I nixed it. It would be a PITA to remove the drawer front to deal with a loose knob screw. Instead I will buy some longer 8-32 screws and go through the drawer box and the drawer front. I had some 1 1/2" 8-32s but they were sticking out less than a 1/4". I will buy some 1 3/4" or 2" long ones and cut them down.

tray is done

I got four coats of shellac on the splines. The carcass still shows some open grain but I am leaving it as is. I don't have anything to fill in the pores and I don't want to wait and order something neither.

top dust panel

I used ghost sticks to hold the dust panel in place as the glue cooks. I may also nail it off depending upon how small the pin nail I have are. I also glued in the other two dust panels. The bottom one is just nailed in place.

making a jig

This is going to be my alignment jig thingie thing for drilling the holes for the knobs the same on both sides of the drawer front.

nothing fancy here

A scrap of pine and 1/2" birch plywood is all I needed. A couple of nails and some glue and I didn't have to wait to use it.

all three in one jig

All the knobs for the 3 bottom large drawers will be in line with each other top to bottom and in from the sides about 6".

reversible

The two cleats on the outsides put the jig tight to the side and bottom on either end.

drill guide

Clamps hold the jig in place and the drill guide ensures that have a 90° hole to the face.

done

 The holes on the 3 big drawers are inset from each outside edge 6 1/8" and are slightly off center (1/4") from the bottom. I don't like having knobs dead centered top/bottom. I like the asymmetrical look of it being off center.

small top drawer fronts

I decided to align the bottom drawer knobs with the two top drawers. The knob will be inset from the outside edge (left edge on the left drawer and the right edge on the right drawer) 6 1/8". These two knobs will also be slightly off centered R/L and T/B.

more sanding to do

I am going to sand and correct the drawer fronts like I did the top and the 3 drawer unit. Although I will say the drawer fronts are better than the bureau top.

labeled so I can forget it

This is the back of the drawer front and won't be seen once it is attached to the drawer box. On the backs I only had to sand and correct a border about 1 1/2" all the way around.

a little over an hour

The drawer fronts are sanded baby butt smooth to feel and look. I'll paint them tomorrow because I doubt it will happen tonight. This is was not what I had planned for today but I'm glad I got done what I did.

accidental woodworker

These tenon cutters were donated by a former student who has retired from his chairmaking hobby. We’d like them to go to someone who would have trouble affording them and would use them a lot.  If you know someone like that, please nominate them (or yourself) in the comments section.  I’ll pick a winner and mail the set of three tenon cutters to them. (Our tenon cutters have progressed a long way since these were made, but I’ve tested all three of them and they seem to be working quite well. It’s our usual set of three cutters: one 11/16 one for legs, one 1/2″ one for arm stumps or posts, and one 1/2″ cylindrical one for spindles.)

1/2" blonde wood

This is the first thing I did in the shop this AM. This is is what I want to use for the back of the bureau. It is a couple of frog hairs shy of being flush sitting in the rabbet which is perfect for this. Once I verified this I went on a road trip to Lowes.

Ran into two snags at Lowes and neither I could overcome. The first was the cut off saw was out of order. The back of the bureau is about 25" x 29" so I would have to buy a full sheet of 1/2". (Lowes didn't have any half sheets of 1/2".) The second hiccup was Lowes didn't have any 4x8 sheets of 1/2". 

When I went out in to the parking lot the skies had opened up and rain was pouring out of the clouds. This was a bit of serendipity for me because the plywood (if I could have gotten it) would have been soaked by the time I got home.

On the way home I decided to go to Staples to get a box. I needed one to ship something to my sister Donna. I couldn't find a box that was reasonably sized for what I intend to ship. I settled for a box twice the size needed and I'll just add extra crappola in it to fill it up.

trimming the splines

The cutoff saw did an awesome job. I didn't get any scratches in the sides and the splines were a frog hair proud. Easy peasy work flushing them with a chisel.

3 topcoats

I am disappointed in the coverage of this paint. I still had a few spots here and there where I could see the white primer coat. I had to paint the drawer fronts again because of white primer showing on them too. I'm not sure if I did two topcoats where it showed though. I might have missed those edges on the last go around.

fingers crossed

An hour after painting the 3 drawer unit all the drawers went in/out without any binding. I painted the back even though it will never be seen once it is up against a wall.

a little on the bald side

I have to get shellac on the splines and I'll put one coat on the sides of this drawer. After it has dried I'll check to make sure it still smoothly goes in/out of its opening.

it is toast

I love this pencil sharpener but it was getting a wee bit dull so I put in a fresh blade. Once I did that the sharpener would no longer sharpen a pencil. That sucks pond scum through a double straw. I tried 2 other brand new blades and got the same results - wouldn't sharpen a pencil. I will use another sharpener until I sort out this hiccup. There isn't enough of a space in the mouth - akin to the mouth on a plane being too tight. 

more than primer showing

One thing about painted surfaces is that they show every defect in the surfaces. The drawer fronts showed all in the indents in them from the painter triangles along with drag marks from being moved on the same triangles.

I didn't get to putting the drawer fronts on today. I did get 3 coats on the splines and I'll get one more tomorrow and that will be done. I also have a road trip to Home Depot planned for sunday. I'll be there at 0800 and see what the have for 1/2" plywood. I think they have a larger selection of half sheets of plywood than Lowes offers. I should be able to get the top screwed on so that will be my cherry on the woodworking sundae.

accidental woodworker